#1130 – Intake Interview

ENGLISH

Intake Interview

While I had a welcoming meeting at my faculty for the new PhD candidates earlier this week, this morning I had a more substantial meeting with the Graduate School of TU Delft. They called it the “intake interview”. Well, just like previously, I don’t think the materials of the meeting were of importance (nor interest) to write here; but I had been looking forward for this intake interview because it was a chance for me to clear a lot of things up about all the things I have to do during my PhD time in TU Delft.

So, this Graduate School (GS) thing is a new thing in TU Delft. They started implementing it at all faculties earlier this year, and for some faculties since the start of the previous academic year. Beforehand, all PhDs didn’t have to follow the GS. And this is the point. Because it is still very new, not a lot of people really know about it; and obviously the PhDs who started their position prior to the implementation of this GS do not really know about it as well. So there is basically noone I can go to or ask, except for the people in the GS themselves; but of course not that I can ask them before I have my intake interview, which is like the formal starting point of my admission to the GS (note: my intake interview had been set up on 28 September since August even though technically I have started working per 1 September (well, actually 3 September since 1 September was a Saturday ). . So basically, in the past month, I had a lot of open questions but I had to wait patiently to get the answers, hahaha ).

And they were really important questions btw, as the answers would influence and shape my “strategy” and “plan” for my PhD work. And that is why I am really glad now that I have had the meeting. At the very least, it is much more clear for me now about what are the mandatory things (more to the details) that I have to do and fulfil, especially in the first year, to complete the degree. Although apparently, the conclusion that I got from the answers of my questions and their explanation is that I have to work really hard, again, hahaha .

Anyway…

Speaking of PhD position, actually earlier this week I also got my first salary (from this position)! Yay!! Well, it was actually not the first salary I have ever got in my life, as I worked part time as a student assistant last year and also as a lecturer assistant while I was still in Bandung; and I received full-scholarship for my two-year of Master study at TU Delft (if that being categorized as ‘salary’; though officially it is not, haha). But still, it was nice! Because the last scholarship money that I got (for August) was transferred to my account in July and my September salary was only transferred earlier this week, I had to use my savings to cover my living expense for most part of September, hahaha . But well, now, whatever…

BAHASA INDONESIA

Intake Interview

Jika awal minggu ini aku menghadiri meeting selamat datang di fakultasku untuk semua kandidat PhD (S3) yang baru, pagi tadi aku menghadiri sebuah meting yang lebih mendalam lagi dengan Graduate School-nya TU Delft. Mereka menyebutnya “intake interview” gitu deh. Yah, seperti sebelumnya, aku rasa materi dari meeting ini nggak terlalu penting (ataupun menarik) untuk ditulis disini lah ya; cuma yang jelas sih aku bisa bilang bahwa aku sudah amat menantikan intake interview ini karena ini adalah kesempatan emasku untuk menanyakan beberapa pertanyaan (mengenai posisi PhD-ku di TU Delft ini) yang telah mengganjal di pikiranku selama beberapa waktu.

Jadi, Graduate School (GS) ini adalah hal baru di TU Delft. Mereka baru mulai mengimplementasikannya di semua fakultas awal tahun ini, dan di beberapa fakultas semenjak awal tahun akademik yang lalu. Sebelumnya, semua PhD tidak mengikuti GS gitu deh. Dan disinilah masalahnya. Karena masih sangat baru, nggak banyak orang yang benar-benar mengetahui tentang GS ini; dan tentu saja PhD-PhD yang sudah lebih lama disini yang memulai posisi mereka sebelum GS diimplementasikan juga nggak tahu apa-apa tentangnya. Akibatnya, ada banyak informasi dan pertanyaan yang berseliweran. Dan pada dasarnya nggak ada yang bisa ditanyai gitu deh, kecuali orang-orang dari GS itu sendiri ya; yang mana tetapi tentu saja nggak mungkin juga dong aku bertanya ke mereka sebelum intake interview-ku, yang mana merupakan permulaan resmi posisiku di GS gitu deh (catatan: intake interview-ku sudah ditentukan tanggal 28 September semenjak Agustus gitu deh walaupun sebenarnya kan posisiku ini sudah dimulai per 1 September ya (eh, sebenarnya 3 September sih karena 1 September kan hari Sabtu ). Jadi pada dasarnya, sebulan belakangan ini, ada banyak sekali pertanyaan yang berkecamuk di pikiranku yang mana aku harus bersabar untuk mendapatkan jawabannya, hahaha ).

Dan pertanyaan-pertanyaan itu penting loh, karena jawabannya akan mempengaruhi dan membentuk “strategi” dan “rencana” pekerjaan PhD-ku ini. Dan inilah mengapa aku sekarang lega telah mengikuti meeting ini. Setidaknya sekarang sudah jelas untukku apa saja hal-hal yang wajib kukerjakan (secara lebih mendetail) dan kupenuhi, terutama di tahun pertama, untuk menyelesaikan program ini. Walau ternyata, kesimpulan dari jawaban-jawaban dan penjelasan yang kuterima adalah aku harus bekerja keras, lagi, hahaha .

Ngomong-ngomong…

Ngomongin posisi PhD ini, sebenarnya awal minggu ini aku mendapatkan gaji pertamaku loh (dari posisi ini)! Yay!! Eh, sebenarnya sih ini bukan gaji pertama dalam bentuk apapun yang kuterima seumur hidup lah ya, karena tahun lalu toh aku bekerja paruh waktu sebagai student assistant gitu dan dulu juga pernah menjadi asisten dosen sewaktu masih di Bandung; dan juga aku menerima beasiswa penuh selama dua tahun masa studi S2ku di TU Delft (kalau ini mau dilihat sebagai ‘gaji’; walau secara resmi bukan sih, haha). Tapi masih aja, senang gitu rasanya! Soalnya kan uang beasiswa terakhir yang kuterima (untuk bulan Agustus) ditransfer bulan Juli tuh dan gajiku bulan September baru ditransfer awal minggu ini, jadi ya aku harus menggunakan tabunganku gitu deh untuk meng-cover pengeluaranku selama sebagian besar bulan September, hahaha . Ah, tapi, udahlah…

#1017 – New Week

ENGLISH

This week is sort of “special” in a few ways:

TV Shows Are Back!

Some of my favorite TV shows are back from their winter hiatus this week. This really excites me as it means that I have more options for entertainment now, haha How I Met Your Mother and Two and A Half Men have been back since last week though (but not airing this week ), but The Big Bang Theory is back this week. Ah, and not to forget, Desperate Housewives, hahaha

Back To Work

Normal weeks are back in TU Delft. All activities are back to normal in the campus starting this week, even though this week is the last week for all classes in TU Delft this quarter as next week will be the white week and the two weeks after that will be the exam weeks. This does not really affect me though as I am not taking any more classes, haha. Well, except that I have a part-time job as a student-assistant now which means that I have to handle two more classes (one tomorrow and another one on Friday, though on Friday I will only have to oversee an exam that will be held in my class). My tennis lesson this quarter will also end this week.

One Week Before the Australian Open

Well, well, I know, this is quite lame as the Australian Open will just start next week. But what is exciting about this week is that in a week like this, it is very fun to make a prediction for the tournament. This week shall provide the latest update for the tournament regarding the state and performance of each of the player. As for me, well, now it is still too soon to make a prediction. So, just wait for it! I will make one later on this week, probably by Saturday

Anyway, talking about Australian Open, there was a bad news yesterday. Venus Williams has announced her withdrawal from the tournament. She stated that she was not ready yet to return to competitive tennis (though she was very close to being ready). Well, though disappointing as it means that the women’s field just lost one strong contender (even though she is ranked #100 this week; but with the Williams sisters, ranking means nothing), this decision was quite foreseeable and understandable. Her decision to withdraw from Auckland, which was held last week, meant that she would not have had any competitive matches under her belt coming to the AO, if she had decided to play AO, since her withdrawal from the US Open in September 2011. This would not, obviously, sufficiently prepare her game for this big tournament, even for Williams’ standard. She stated in her website that she is still aiming to come back to the circuit in February; but I do hope that she will really be back by March in the tournament in Miami . We will see.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu ini tuh “spesial” dalam beberapa arti loh:

Kembalinya Acara-Acara TV!

Beberapa acara TV favoritku akhirnya kembali dari hiatus musim dinginnya mereka. Ini membuatku bersemangat karena artinya jadi makin banyak deh pilihan hiburannya, haha How I Met Your Mother dan Two and A Half Men sudah mulai tayang dari minggu lalu sih sebenarnya (tapi minggu ini malah nggak tayang ), tapi The Big Bang Theory kan baru kembali minggu ini. Ah, dan juga satu lagi, Desperate Housewives, hahaha

Kembali Ke Kerjaan

Minggu-minggu normal kembali di TU Delft. Semua aktivitas kembali ke normal di kampus mulai minggu ini, walau sebenarnya minggu ini itu adalah minggu terakhir dari kegiatan belajar-mengajar kuarter ini di TU Delft sih soalnya minggu depan kan sudah minggu putih gitu dan dua minggu setelahnya adalah minggu ujian. Ini nggak terlalu berefek kepadaku sih soalnya kan aku nggak ngambil kelas lagi, haha. Ya, tapi karena aku ada kerjaan paruh waktu sebagai student assistant disini, jadilah artinya masih ada dua kelas yang harus aku pegang minggu ini (satu kelas besok ini dan satu lagi Jumat nanti, walau di kelas hari Jumat nanti aku cuma tinggal mengawasi ujian yang akan diadakan di kelas ini sih). Les tenisku kuarter ini juga akan berakhir minggu ini.

Satu Minggu Sebelum Australian Open

Ya ya ya, ini agak garing memang karena Australian Open kan baru mulainya minggu depan. Tapi yang menarik dengan minggu ini adalah di minggu kayak gini ini, kegiatan membuat prediksi turnamennya itu sangat menarik. Sepanjang minggu ini, update-update terbaru tentang kondisi dan performa masing-masing pemain juga seharusnya akan tersedia. Untukku, yah, kalau sekarang masih agak terlalu awal ya buat membuat prediksi. Jadi ditunggu aja deh! Aku akan menuliskan prediksiku di akhir minggu ini, mudah-mudahan sih sebelum Sabtu gitu ya

Ngomong-ngomong, ngomongin tentang Australian Open, ada berita buruk deh kemarin. Venus Williams mengumumkan ketidak-ikutsertaannya dalam turnamen ini. Ia menyatakan bahwa ia masih belum cukup siap untuk kembali ke tenis kompetitif (walau ia juga mengatakan sebenarnya ia sudah nyaris siap sih). Yah, walau mengecewakan karena ini berarti bagian putrinya kehilangan seorang pemain kuat (walau rankingnya hanya ranking 100 sih minggu ini; tapi ranking itu bukanlah indikasi apa-apa bagi Williams bersaudara deh), keputusan ini sebenarnya lumayan mudah terprediksi dan dapat dimaklumi. Keputusannya untuk mundur dari turnamen di Auckland, yang diadakan minggu lali, artinya ia jadi tidak memiliki persiapan pertandingan kompetitif sama sekali masuk ke AO, kalau ia masih ikutan AO ya, semenjak mundurnya ia dari US Open September 2011 lalu. Ini, jelaslah, bukan persiapan yang ideal untuk turnamen besar seperti ini, bahkan bagi standarnya Williams. Ia menyatakan di website-nya bahwa ia menargetkan untuk kembali bermain di sirkuit profesional Februari nanti sih; tapi aku sih berharapnya ia bakal sudah pulih lagi di bulan Maret nanti untuk berpartisipasi di turnamen di Miami . Yah, we will see deh.

#994 – Weekend Story

ENGLISH

Here we are again, already in the end of this weekend. How was my weekend? Well, it went fine.

Friday was very exhausting for me and by the end of the day, I was dead tired. But it was fun though. How was that? Well, so, some friends and I had a plan for a potluck dinner (potluck dinner: a dinner where each person brings their own cooking and share it with everyone). For this occasion, I planed to cook: opor! (note: I am quite proud now btw that I can cook opor from scratch! ). And somehow I kept forgetting to go to the orientalmarkt before Friday. So, I had to go to the orientalmarkt in the morning to buy some of the ingredients. Then, as I wrote here, my part-time job schedule for this quarter started this week. And so, I had to work from 1.45 to around 4.30 in the afternoon later on that day. After I went back home from work, I started prepping and cooking; and apparently it took longer than I expected because I forgot to take into the account that I was cooking for a bigger magnitude here (I mean, it was for more people, not just one person (me) as I usually do ).

The potluck was quite nice. Even though not so many people came (my guess would be because of the hectic workload from campus lately so some might not have the time to cook and so they opted not to come. Yeah, coming to think about it now, potluck might not be a good way of gathering people for the time being), and the redbox was freezing cold because we could not turn the heater on (it would cause a short-circuit and turned all electricity in the room down. Weird), it was still fun!

After that, we went to the centrum to have some drinks in two bars. The first bar sold cheaper drinks (as it was aimed for students) and quite a unique setting (an underground dungeon) but the atmosphere was, well, not that awesome (because it was a dungeon afterall). The second bar was nicer in term of the atmosphere but it was so crowded! But still, we were lucky enough to get a shared table though, haha. We stayed in the second bar until its last order at almost 2 AM (yeah, bar in the Netherlands closes quite early); and just went back home after that. And that was why I was so dead tired!

One more thing, you know that now I have a new oven. And because of that, finally, I can make a: PIZZA!!! Yeaaaahh!!!  Well, of course not from a scratch though. What I mean is that now I can buy an “instant” pizza from the supermarket and cook it with my oven! And last Saturday, that was what I did. Finally I cooked my first pizza (though instant)!

Btw, if I thought the days before Sunday was misty enough, well, I was definitely WRONG. It was super misty today!! I will upload more photos later on, but here is a tiny bit of a sneak peak:

Drinks in the bar (of course I did not drink all of them)

Yeah, finally now I can cook pizza!!

The mist in Delft today: so thick!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Nah, lagi-lagi kita ada disini nih, di akhir dari akhir pekan. Bagaimanakah akhir pekanku? Ya, baik-baik saja sih.

Hari Jumat benar-benar melelahkan untukku, dan sampai-sampai, ketika hari itu berakhir, aku beneran capek banget deh. Tapi asyik sih. Bagaimanakah ceritanya? Jadi begini, aku dan beberapa teman ada rencana untuk mengadakan makan malam potluck (makan malam potluck: makan malam dimana setiap orang membawa masakannya masing-masing gitu trus masakannya dibagi-bagi gitu deh). Nah, untuk acara kali ini, aku berencana untuk memasak: opor! (note: eh, aku bangga loh soalnya berhasil masak opor dari nol! ). Namun entah kenapa koq aku lupa terus gitu untuk pergi ke orientalmarkt sebelum hari Jumat. Jadilah Jumat pagi aku pergi ke orientalmarkt untuk beli beberapa bahannya. Lalu, seperti yang kutulis disini, kerjaan paruh waktuku untuk kuarter ini kan jadwalnya dimulai minggu ini nih. Jadilah aku harus kerja dari jam 1.45 sampai sekitar jam 4.30 sore gitu deh siangnya. Kemudian, setelah pulang dari kerja, langsung deh aku menyiapkan bahan-bahan dan memasak opornya itu; yang mana ternyata memakan waktu lebih banyak dari perkiraanku karena aku lupa memperhitungkan bahwa kali ini kan aku memasak dalam partai lebih besar gitu ya (maksudnya untuk beberapa orang gitu, bukan cuma buat satu orang saja (diriku sendiri) kayak biasanya ).

Acara potluck-nya asyik juga. Walau memang nggak terlalu banyak yang bisa datang sih (tebakanku sih karena memang jadwal di kampus lumayan padat deh jadi mungkin beberapa nggak sempet buat masak gitu, trus nggak datang deh. Iya sih, kalau dipikir-pikir lagi sekarang, potluck mungkin bukanlah ide yang baik untuk mengajak kumpul-kumpul deh di waktu-waktu sekarang ini), dan redbox-nya dingin banget karena heater-nya nggak bisa dinyalakan (soalnya kalau dinyalain bakal terjadi konslet gitu deh dan listriknya jadi mati deh. Aneh deh), tapi masih tetap asyik koq!

Setelahnya, kami pergi ke centrum untuk pergi ke dua bar gitu deh. Minuman di bar pertama murah (soalnya memang bar untuk mahasiswa gitu deh) dan tempatnya agak unik (kayak ruang kuno dari abad pertengahan di bawah tanah yang langit-langitnya pendek banget (dungeon) gitu deh) tapi atmosfernya, ya, nggak gitu ok sih (ya gimana lagi sih, dungeon gitu). Bar keduanya agak lebih enak dari segi atmosfer, tapi rame banget! Tapi kami beruntung sih masih bisa dapat meja, walau sharing dengan orang lain juga, haha. Kami duduk-duduk di bar kedua sampai last order-nya, yaitu hampir jam 2 pagi gitu deh (ya, bar di Belanda memang tutupnya lebih awal); dan kemudian pulang deh. Dan itulah mengapa aku capek banget!

Eh iya, satu lagi, tahu kan aku sekarang punya oven baru. Dan oleh karenanya, itu berarti kini, akhirnya, aku bisa membuat: PIZZA!!! Yeaaaahh!!!  Yah, tentu saja nggak dari nol lah ya. Maksudku disini adalah aku bisa membeli pizza “instan” gitu dari supermarket dan memasaknya dengan ovenku! Dan Sabtu kemarin, itulah yang kulakukan. Akhirnya aku memasak pizza pertamaku (walau instan)!

Btw, kalau aku mengira bahwa hari-hari sebelum hari Minggu ini tuh berkabut banget, yah, aku ternyata SALAH banget. Hari Minggu ini berkabut tebal banget!! Ya, nanti kapan gitu aku akan upload beberapa foto lagi deh, tapi sedikit cuplikannya bisa diintip di atas tuh.

#988 – Jelly, Tofu, Tennis, and (New) Sports Card

ENGLISH

Random Thing of The Day

So a few days ago, I was making a jelly. The jelly powder I bought in the orientalmarkt; and this was the same jelly powder that is widely sold in Indonesia (Swa**ow G**be brand). When I looked at the packaging, I realized that apparently this jelly was such an international product, because:

Such a multinational product!

See? All information were printed in English and in Indonesian. Because imported by the Dutch, the “cooking instruction” part was covered by list of ingredients written in English and in Dutch. Then, the company who did this export/import thing was based in Singapore. And even more, the most surprising thing in my opinion, this jelly powder was manufactured in CHILE!! Wow!! So international, no? hahaha

The Forgotten Tofu

Apparently, I also bought (raw) tofu when I went to the orientalmarkt three weeks ago. At home, I kept the tofu in my fridge. And then, that tofu was forgotten until yesterday! haha I suddenly saw the tofu lying innocently in the back of my fridge, and then I remembered that I indeed bought a tofu three weeks ago! And so, as a result, my cooking today involved tofu, haha. Poor tofu, being forgotten and ignored like that .

p.s: the tofu was still good as during the three weeks, I did not open the packaging; and so the inside was still preserved as it was vacuumed.  

Tennis Lesson

At this occasion, I bought a Sports Card so that I can use all sporting facilities (but the gym) in TU Delft for free. Well, one facility that I was eyeing at was the free tennis lesson, huahaha . I already bought the tennis racket three weeks ago, and now it is already the time to register at the course. The registration for the next quarter period (November – January) was opened last Monday. And so I checked the registration to register myself in the course.

However, the tennis course next quarter is not really friendly schedule-wise. They will only open three classes in the beginner level (actually there is an introduction level; but my friend told me that I can actually skip the introduction level and go directly to beginner level, hahaha ); and two of them are during my Dutch course (conflicting schedule, or is scheduled one hour before my Dutch course; and this was impossible as one hour before my Dutch course, I always must prepare myself for the class). The third one is at 6 PM on Friday. Well, this one is fine though, as I do not have anything else scheduled for this slot anyway. However, I will have a class to assist for my part time job every Friday from 2 to 5.30 PM.

But whatever, as I have no other option. Because I am now on fire to take the lesson, I decided to register myself for the Friday course. But this means that perhaps I will have to bring snacks during my part time job so that I will not be starving during the tennis lesson, huahahaha .

New Sports Card

As I mentioned in the link above, there was a problem with my account in the sport centre system. At first I thought this was because of administration problem or something; but it turned out to not be true! And so I complaint to the sport centre a few days ago. Long story short, finally they fixed the problem and now I can book and register in anything (related to the sport centre) via internet! hehe Well, I just think that now is not the time to go to the sport desk in the sport centre just to book and register in something anymore, right? It is already 2011! The era of the internet! hahaha

And yesterday, I got an email that instructed me to remake my Sports Card. So this afternoon I walked to the Sport Centre to remake my card, just as instructed.

Yeah, my forgotten tofu, hahaha

BAHASA INDONESIA

Random Thing of The Day

Jadi ceritanya dua hari yang lalu aku bikin agar-agar gitu. Serbuk agarnya aku beli di orientalmarkt dan ini tuh serbuk agar yang sama kayak yang banyak ditemui di Indonesia gitu deh (merk Swa**ow G**be). Waktu melihat bungkusnya, aku menyadari bahwa agar-agar ini tuh produk yang internasional banget ya, karena:

Produk yang multinasional banget!

Nah kan? Bahasa yang dicetak tuh bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia. Karena diimpor oleh Belanda, bagian “cara penyajiannya” ditempelin tulisan tentang bahan baku pakai bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Belanda. Lalu, perusahaan yang melakukan ekspor ini ternyata berbasis di Singapura. Dan lagi, yang paling mengejutkan nih menurutku, agar-agar ini dibuatnya di, CHILI!!! Wow!! Internasional banget nggak tuh!? hahaha

Tahu yang Terlupakan

Jadi ceritanya waktu ke orientalmarkt tiga minggu yang lalu aku juga (ternyata) beli tahu (mentah). Nah, aku simpan tahu itu di kulkas kan. Dan kemudian, terlupakanlah tahu itu sampai kemarin! haha Tiba-tiba aku melihat tahu itu tergeletak dengan pasrahnya di bagian belakang kulkas, dan baru ingatlah aku kalau memang aku beli tahu tiga minggu yang lalu! Sebagai akibatnya, masakanku hari ini berhubungan sama tahu deh, haha. Kasihan ya tahunya, terlupakan gitu .

p.s: tahunya masih bagus karena selama tiga minggu ini kan bungkusnya nggak aku buka sama sekali tuh; jadi dalamnya ya awet gitu deh karena kedap udara. 

Les Tenis

Pada waktu ini kan aku membeli Sports Card tuh supaya bisa memakai semua (kecuali gym) fasilitas olahraga di TU Delft dengan gratis. Nah, satu fasilitas yg paling aku incar adalah les tenis gratis, huahaha . Tiga minggu yang lalu aku sudah beli raket tenisnya kan tuh, nah sekarang saatnya daftar di lesnya deh. Pendaftaran buat les periode kuarter depan (November – Januari) dibuka hari Senin kemarin ini. Jadilah aku dengan semangat 45 mendaftarkan diri di kursusnya.

Hanya saja, pilihan jadwal yang ada agak kurang bersahabat nih. Kuarter depan cuma dibuka 3 kelas buat level beginner (sebenarnya ada level introduction sih; tapi kata temanku nggak masalah koq skip yang level introduction dan langsung masuk yang beginner, hahaha ); dan dua di antaranya diadakan di saat aku sedang ada kelas bahasa Belanda (jadwalnya bentrok, atau jadwalnya tuh sejam sebelum kelas bahasa Belanda gitu; dimana ini nggak memungkinkan karena sejam sebelum kelas bahasa Belanda, sudah pasti aku sedang belajar buat mempersiapkan diri gitu deh). Yang satu lagi diadakan hari Jumat jam 6 sore. Nggak masalah sih, aku nggak ada jadwal lain buat jadwal itu. Hanya saja, hari Jumat itu aku ada kelas yang harus aku asistensiin dalam rangka kerja part time gitu deh dari jam 2 siang sampai jam 5.30 sore.

Tapi ya udah, nggak ada pilihan lagi kan. Dan berhubung aku lagi semangat nih buat les tenis, ya udah yang hari Jumat itu aku ambil aja. Kayaknya nanti waktu kerja part time aku juga harus bawa snack nih biar pas les tenisnya nggak kelaparan banget, huahahaha .

Sports Card Baru

O iya, kayak yang aku tulis di link di atas itu, ada masalah sama akunku di sistem sport centre. Awalnya aku kira ini masalah administrasi; ternyata bukan! Jadilah beberapa waktu yang lalu aku komplain gitu ke sport centre-nya. Dan singkat cerita, akhirnya masalahnya diperbaiki juga dan kini aku sudah bisa booking dan registrasi segala macam (yang berhubungan sama sport centre) lewat internet! hehe Kan males aja gitu ya kalau mau booking atau registrasi koq harus pergi ke sport desk di sport centre segala gitu. Sekarang kan udah zaman internet gitu, hahaha

Dan kemarin aku dapat email yang menginstruksikanku untuk membuat ulang Sports Card-ku. Ya udah tadi sore aku ke Sport Centre buat membuat ulang Sports Card-ku; yang artinya harus ada sesi pemotretan lagi *apaseh* gitu deh, hahaha .

#986 – Busy Week

ENGLISH

I certainly feel that this week has been quite a busy week for me. I mean, in term of the total actual workload, maybe it is not that much different from other typical weeks; however, it just that the stuffs I had to tackle this week were so diverse, including this water leak, that I felt I had more things to do.

Dutch Course

So, my second level Dutch course started this week with two meetings: one on Monday and one on Thursday. So far, it has been going quite well. I just have to adjust myself to “studying for the materials at least 1.5 hours before the course starts to avoid being blank during the class” pattern again, after not doing it for the past six months or so (I had to be in this mode also when I was taking the first level course earlier this year).

Anyway, just in the first lecture, the course already surprised me btw: for the first assignment, we all had to make a two-minute presentation in Dutch for the second class (Thursday)! My first reaction was: “Are you kidding me??” hahaha. But then, coming to think about it, I realized that it was not a big deal actually, a two-minute presentation was nothing and not that long, right? hahaha And then, of course I prepared for my speech on Thursday. There were like 15 people in the class, and the order of presentation was picked randomly. In the end, there was not enough time for all students to do the presentation; hence some of them did not have to present, including me! Arrrrgggghhhhh. Damn, I spent some time preparing for the presentation and in the end I did not even have to do it! But it is okay though, the positive thing was that still, I already studied Dutch through the preparation, no?

Meeting

Next quarter, I will also be a student assistant in one course for Bachelor students for my part time job. I have been assigned in one course for the first year international Bachelor aerospace students. The course will start in two weeks; and there was a meeting regarding the course last Wednesday. So, in my opinion, I think this class will take more of my time in a week than the class I handled last quarter. But the good news is, I do not have any course to take (other than Dutch) anymore in the second quarter, because my class has ended last October. But the bad news is, I plan to work on my internship (and there is still one report to go) in the second quarter. Hmmm, so I really have to manage my time a lot better.

Done!

And this week, I am proud to say that I finish my project (including the report) several days before the deadline! Yeah! I finished my analysis on the survival analysis project last Tuesday, and I finished the whole report today! The deadline is still next Monday though, so if I want, I actually still have two days to go to recheck and reread the report, hmmm.

So, that is pretty the story of my week now. I am going to Rotterdam in few minutes for a party at my friend’s place, haha!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Bener deh aku merasa minggu ini tuh menyibukkan sekali untukku. Maksudku, dalam hal workload total sebenarnya sih mungkin nggak terlalu beda banyak sama minggu-minggu lain ya; hanya saja, aku merasa hal-hal yang harus aku kerjakan minggu ini tuh bervariasi banget gitu, termasuk bocornya air ini, jadi rasanya ada lebih banyak kerjaan gitu deh.

Kelas Bahasa Belanda

Jadi, kelas bahasa Belanda level duaku dimulai minggu ini dengan dua pertemuan: satu di hari Senin dan satu di hari Kamis. Sejauh ini sih kursusnya baik-baik saja deh. Cuma memang aku harus menyesuaikan diri ke mode “harus belajar mempersiapkan materi kelas setidaknya 1,5 jam sebelum kelas biar nggak bengong waktu di kelas” lagi deh, setelah nggak berada dalam mode ini selama enam bulan terakhir (aku juga harus berada di mode seperti ini waktu ngambil kelas level pertamanya awal tahun ini).

Anyway, baru di pertemuan pertama aja ya, kelas ini sudah membuatku shock loh, karena ada tugas pertama: kami semua harus mempersiapkan presentasi selama dua menit dalam bahasa Belanda untuk kelas kedua (hari Kamis)! Reaksi pertamaku: “Apaaaa??” hahaha. Tapi kemudian, setelah dipikir-pikir lagi, sebenernya ini tugas biasa aja kan ya, presentasi dua menit gampang lah, nggak panjang-panjang amat juga, ya kan? hahaha . Ya udah, lalu di hari Kamis aku mempersiapkan presentasi ini deh. Jadi ceritanya ada 15an orang gitu sekelas, dan urutan presentasinya acak gitu. Dan akhirnya, karena waktunya nggak cukup untuk semua orang presentasi, sebagian nggak jadi presentasi deh, termasuk saya!  Arrrrgggghhhhh. Sial, udah capek-capek nyiapin presentasi akhirnya malah nggak jadi presentasi deh! Eh, tapi nggak papa sih, tetap ambil positifnya aja lah: toh aku juga sudah belajar kan dalam mempersiapkan presentasi itu?

Meeting

Kuarter depan, aku juga akan menjadi asisten di satu kelas untuk mahasiswa S1 lagi gitu, buat kerjaan paruh waktuku. Nah, aku ditugaskan di satu kelas untuk mahasiswa S1 internasional tahun pertama jurusan aerospace gitu deh. Kelasnya bakal dimulai dua minggu lagi; makanya ada meeting minggu ini buat membicarakan tentang cara main kelas ini Rabu lalu. Menurutku sih ya, kayaknya kelas yang kali ini bakal memakan lebih banyak waktuku dalam seminggu deh daripada kelas yang aku pegang kuarter lalu. Kabar baiknya sih aku sudah nggak ada kelas lagi (selain bahasa Belanda) di kuarter kedua, soalnya kelasku kan sudah berakhir Oktober lalu. Tapi berita buruknya, aku juga ada rencana untuk mengerjakan tugas magangku (dan ada satu report lagi yang harus dikerjakan nih), di kuarter kedua. Hmmm, jadi memang aku harus mengatur waktuku dengan lebih baik lagi nih.

Selesai!

Dan minggu ini, dengan bangga aku bisa bilang bahwa aku menyelesaikan satu proyek (termasuk report-nya) beberapa hari sebelum deadline! Yeah! Aku menyelesaikan analisa proyek Survival Analysis-ku Selasa lalu, dan tadi siang report-nya beres juga! Deadline-nya masih hari Senin sih, jadi sebenernya masih ada dua hari lagi kalo misalnya aku mau mengecek ulang atau membaca ulang report itu, hmmm.

Jadi, itulah kira-kira ceritaku minggu ini. Sekarang aku mau siap-siap buat ke Rotterdam ah, soalnya ada party di apartemennya temanku, haha!

#981 – My Not So Blue Monday

ENGLISH

My Monday began with my routinity every Monday (for the past few weeks): watching the newest episode of The Amazing Race season 19, hahaha . This season is getting better and better! Then, because my fridge was already super ‘dry’ (I mean, it was almost empty, huahahaha ), after brunch and shower I went to the supermarket in the centrum. My plan was also to send my application form for the Public Ballot for Wimbledon to London, because there is a post office in the supermarket.

After I finished my grocery-shopping (btw, why haven’t they given away discounts on meat lately? It has been like two weeks since they last did ), I went back home. Back in my apartment, I just realized that I forgot to drop by at the post office! Thus, that application form was still sitting nicely in my bag! Well, and so, after unpacking, I biked back to the supermarket to mail the form. Btw, as an illustration, the distance between my apartment and the centrum is around 1.5 km. Well, I had no other choice other than going back to the centrum right away at that time. According to my schedule today, I would spend the day starting from noon to like 7 PM in my campus to work on a project, then I would go home to cook and have dinner, then interneting for a while, and I would go to bed quite early as I will have an early class tomorrow morning. It means that there would be no time for me later on today to mail the letter *yes, I was busy *

So, I went back and forth to the centrum twice consecutively today. It was okay though, I could view it as my exercise today, huahahaha . Btw, when I was talking with that lady in the post office, I (proudly) used Dutch (without asking her to speak English), well, even though from my part I just said like the super basic things like “Ja“, “Oke“, “Ja, poststandaard” , huahahaha . But it was okay though as I understood what she said. Ah, a good “warm-up” for my Dutch course that will start next week.

The rest of the day? Well, everything just went on as planned above. That was it.

Oh, also, today is my payday. Yup, my first paycheck in the Netherlands (well, my scholarship money is not counted of course. If it was, then I have gotten one since last year, huahaha ). Oh, to clarify, this paycheck is my salary from my part-time job that I have been doing for the past one month. Well, of course it is not ethical to state the number I earn here, hahaha . But what I can say is that it is not bad (of course). As a result, the rate of increase in my savings just went higher, huahaha

Anyway, there are a few “cuts” in salary in the Netherlands: they are for tax, healthcare act, and also pension . Yup, apparently I already have my pension fund, huahaha . And all of them are obliged by the government. So, there is a law regulating that. One thing that is also obliged is the health insurance, because everyone who lives in the Netherlands should have (at least) one health insurance. Well, but they (the cuts) do not matter anyway. In the end, I will also benefit from all these “cuts”. The tax goes to where it belongs (not getting astray to someone else’s pocket ) and will really be used by the government for the public; the pension and health insurance, well, I will be the one who benefits from them anyway, right? Hence, if I need to have health treatment or some sort of things (but still, please not ), it will be free.

Well, that is the story of my Monday today…

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hari Seninku dimulai dengan rutinitas biasa setiap hari Senin (beberapa minggu belakangan ini): nonton streaming-nya The Amazing Race musim 19, hahaha . Makin kesini musim ini semakin seru deh! Lalu, karena kulkas di apartemen saya sudah lapar sekali *minta diisi maksudnya, alias udah nyaris kosong, huahahaha *, jadilah setelah sarapan dan mandi aku pergi ke supermarket di centrum. Rencananya sih sekalian mengirimkan formulir aplikasi buat Undian (Ballot)-nya Wimbledon ke London gitu soalnya ada kantor pos gitu deh di supermarket.

Setelah belanja beres (btw, daging di supermarket koq lagi nggak diskon sih? Udah dua mingguan ini nih nggak nemu yang diskon ), aku pulang. Sampai di apartemen, baru sadar kalau aku lupa mampir di kantor posnya! Jadilah tuh surat berisi formulir aplikasi masih nangkring dengan santainya di tasku! Ya udah, setelah unpacking, aku balik lagi ke supermarket buat ngirim suratnya. Sekedar gambaran, jarak dari apartemenku ke centrum itu sekitar 1,5 km gitu deh. Wah, niat amat bolak-balik langsung ke centrum? Ya habis gimana lagi ya, menurut schedule-ku hari ini, aku akan menghabiskan waktu dari siang sampai sekitar jam 7 malam di kampus buat ngerjain proyek, kemudian pulang buat masak dan makan malam, lalu internetan bentar dan tidur awal soalnya besok ada kelas pagi. Artinya, nggak ada waktu kosong deh di siang sampai malam hari buat ngirim surat itu. *sibuk saya *.

Ya udah, jadilah aku bolak-balik ke centrum 2x dalam waktu berturutan hari ini. Nggak papa sih, hitung-hitung olahraga buat hari ini, huahahaha . Btw, bangga ah, waktu ngomong sama mbak-nya di kantor pos, aku pakai bahasa Belanda loh (tanpa minta dia untuk ngomong bahasa Inggris), walau akunya cuma ngomong yang dasar-dasar kayak “Ja“, “Oke“, “Ja, poststandaard” gitu aja sih, huahahaha . Tapi setidaknya lumayan ngerti apa yang dia katakan. Ah, bagus deh untuk “pemanasan” les bahasa Belanda yang akan dimulai minggu depan.

The rest of the day? Well, semuanya mengikuti rencana yang aku tuliskan di atas. Begitulah.

Oh iya, jadi, ceritanya hari ini aku juga gajian. Yup, gajian untuk pertama kalinya selama tinggal di Belanda ini (uang beasiswa nggak dihitung gaji dong ya. Kalo dihitung sih berarti udah dari tahun lalu deh, huahaha ). Oh iya, jadi gaji ini adalah gaji dari pekerjaan paruh waktu yang aku lakukan mulai sebulan belakangan ini. Tentang besarnya berapa, nggak etis lah ya kalau ditulis disini, hahaha . Yang jelas sih lumayan banget lah buat tambah-tambah gitu. Alhasil, laju pertambahan uang di tabunganku jadi semakin cepat deh, huahaha

Anyway, gajian di Belanda itu (lumayan) banyak potongannya loh ternyata: potongan pajak, potongan biaya dana kesehatan masyarakat, dan potongan tabungan pensiun . Ya, saya sudah punya tabungan pensiun ternyata, huahaha . Dan semua ini tuh diwajibkan oleh pemerintah loh. Jadi ada aturannya gitu. Satu lagi yang diwajibkan adalah asuransi kesehatan, secara setiap orang yang tinggal di Belanda harus memiliki (minimal) satu asuransi kesehatan. Ah, tapi nggak papa sih, toh akhirnya semua (potongan) ini juga aku juga yang menikmati. Pajak yang dibayar tersalurkan ke tempat yang benar (nggak nyasar ke kantongnya orang lain gitu maksudnya ) dan benar-benar digunakan negara untuk kepentingan umum; adanya tabungan pensiun dan asuransi kesehatan toh aku sendiri yang menikmatinya secara langsung. Jadinya (amit-amit) kalau butuh berobat juga gratis gitu.

Ya, begitulah cerita hari Seninku kali ini…

#968 – New Things This Week

ENGLISH

Well, my life this week has not only revolved around my friend’s visit to Holland (of course! ). There were several new (interesting) things that happened around me during this past one week.

(New) Part-Time Job

By “new”, I don’t mean a new job that I just got recently; but it was the part-time job I got a couple of months ago. I say it is “new” because this job starts this week (well, two weeks ago there was a short meeting about this though but I would not say it was really the start of this job) .

Anyway, my schedule for this week was a correction meeting (on Monday) and two assistanceship classes during the week. Btw, I feel extremely lucky that there is no scheduling conflict between my part-time job and my plan to Paris, hahaha . Reading the materials, I am also very glad that it is not difficult (as I don’t want to lose face, huahaha ). Btw, for this quarter, I am assigned in one course for second-year under-graduate students.

How was the job anyway? Well, it was fine. It was a computer practical class where basically the students had to work on a package of assignments and if they had questions they could ask me (or my colleagues). Also, when they thought they had finished their work, I (and my colleagues) should check their works and determined whether they passed it or not. Btw, most of the questions I got asked were very basic apparently; like the definition of monotonic function, bounded function, etc.

Btw, on Monday, I had this correction meeting. What I had to do was correcting the students’ preparatory assignments (before entering the class this week, they had to work on this preparatory assignments first. They were allowed to enter the class (and thus, worked on their “real” assignments) if and only if they passed this preparatory assignments). It was quite “funny” that even though the questions were in English, most of them answered in: Dutch! And somehow I had to CORRECT their result! Well, it was noone fault btw as this course was held in Dutch in the first place. Anyway, at first I was glad that it was mostly mathematics so I still could understand most of the things there (where the Dutch words they mainly used were just simple Dutch words like “Als … dan …” (“If … then …”)). But then I remembered there was one question which asked for an explanation! Nooooo!! However, surprisingly, I still could understand what they wrote! Well, not every single words of course, but overall, I kinda followed what they wrote; which was quite surprising . Hey, I guess my Dutch proficiency might not be that bad? hahaha

New TV Shows

Anyway, I love this week so much because a lot of my favorite TV-shows are premiered!! The new season of How I Met Your Mother, the Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race 19, etc! Yeah!!

New Kortingskaart (Discount Card)

Two or three weeks ago I got a newsletter from NS about some offers for students. Well, I normally just sort of ignore this kind of newsletter as sometimes the offers are not that suitable for me. However, this time I did not just skim through it because I recognized the word “gratis” associated to the kortingskaart I had which would expire soon. Btw, “gratis” is the Dutch word for free. And yes, “gratis” is also a Dutch word, not just Indonesian And based on my observations, actually “gratis” is quite a common word in most part of Europe; which means, well, “free”. So, if you come to Europe, keep in mind the word “gratis”, huahahaha .

Anyway, back to topic, I bought my kortingskaart around early October last year; and so it will expire very soon (well, the card is still valid until 2015 though; the thing that will expire soon is the right to get 40% discount on train travel obtained by owning that card). And then this offer came: student can “buy” this 40% discount right for FREE! Yeaaahh!! This news comes in a perfect timing!! *I feel like dancing now*. Because I am still a student, I am qualified for that! And so that is why I applied for the extension of my kortingskaart through their website! Earlier this week I got a letter from NS that the extension my kortingskaart had been approved; and yesterday I activated my card! Yeah! I am so happy! I save 55 euro!! (p.s : the kortingskaart fee is (normally) 55 euro per year)

New Trip

Anyway, later on today I am going to go travelling to one of the most famous cities in the world. It is the capital city of France. Yes, it is, the one and only: PARIS!!! My train will depart at 4 PM today, and I am going back to Holland on Wednesday morning catching the 10.25 AM train from Paris. Why will I go to Paris so late in the day and come back to Holland so early in the morning? Well, because this schedule gave the cheapest train ticket price. The other combination was more expensive by 30-ish euro or so. 30 euro is a lot, no? So, until then, see you!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hidupku minggu ini tentu nggak hanya seputar kunjungan temanku ke Belanda aja ya . Ada beberapa hal lain yang baru (dan menarik) yang terjadi di sekitar seminggu belakangan terakhir ini.

Kerjaan Paruh Waktu (Baru) 

Dengan “baru”, maksudku bukanlah aku mendapat pekerjaan paruh waktu baru-baru ini lho ya; ini adalah kerjaan paruh waktuku yang aku dapat dua bulanan yang lalu. Aku bilang ini “baru” karena ya baru mulai kerjanya minggu ini sih (sebenarnya dua minggu lalu ada semacam meeting singkat gitu sih tentang jadwal, tapi kayaknya nggak dihitung lah ya) .

Ngomong-ngomong, jadwal kerjaanku untuk minggu ini adalah meeting koreksi (di hari Senin) dan dua kelas asistensi di minggu ini. Btw, aku merasa beruntung deh soalnya jadwal asistensi dan jadwal jalan-jalanku ke Paris nggak bentrok, hahaha . Nah, membaca materinya, aku juga lega soalnya materinya nggak sulit (kan nggak mau kehilangan muka dong ya, huahaha ). Btw, di kuarter ini, aku ditugaskan di sebuah mata kuliah untuk mahasiswa S1 tahun kedua (semester tiga).

Bagaimanakah kerjaannya? Baik-baik saja koq. Kelasnya itu adalah kelas praktikum di ruang komputer gitu dimana pada dasarnya mahasiswa harus mengerjakan satu paket tugas dan kalau mereka ada pertanyaan mereka bisa bertanya padaku (atau rekan-rekanku). Juga, ketika mereka merasa sudah selesai mengerjakan tugasnya, aku (dan rekan-rekanku) akan mengecek pekerjaan mereka dan memutuskan apakah mereka lulus atau enggak. Btw, kebanyakan pertanyaan yang mereka tanyakan adalah pertanyaan yang dasar-dasar aja sih ternyata, misalnya kayak definisi fungsi monoton, fungsi terbatas, dll.

Btw, di hari Senin, aku ada meeting koreksi kan. Nah, yang harus aku lakukan adalah mengoreksi kerjaan mahasiswa tentang tugas persiapan mereka (sebelum memasuki kelas minggu ini, mereka harus mengerjakan tugas persiapan dulu. Mereka diizinkan masuk kelas (dan lalu bisa mengerjakan tugas mereka yang “sebenarnya”) jika dan hanya jika mereka lulus di tugas persiapan ini). Agak “lucu” juga loh soalnya kan pertanyaannya dalam bahasa Inggris gitu kan, nah tapi kebanyakan dari mereka menjawabnya dalam: bahasa Belanda! Dan tugasku adalah MENGOREKSI jawaban mereka! Ya sebenarnya nggak ada yang salah juga sih soalnya sebenarnya kelas ini kan diadakan dalam bahasa Belanda tuh. Anyway, awalnya aku santai-santai aja soalnya kan materinya ya matematika gitu kan jadi ya aku masih bisa lah ngerti sebagian besar hal yang mereka kerjakan (dimana paling kata dalam bahasa Belanda yang dipakai juga kata-kata bahasa Belanda yang dasar dan sederhana aja kayak: “Als … dan …” (“Jika … maka …”)). Tapi trus aku ingat bahwa salah satu soalnya kan menyuruh mahasiswa buat menjelaskan sesuatu! Tidaaaak!! Eh, tapi ya, mengejutkan nih, aku koq masih mengerti ya apa yang mereka tulis! Yah, memang nggak setiap kata yang mereka tulis sih, tapi maksudku, secara keseluruhan, aku masih bisa ngerti loh apa yang mereka tulis; yang mana ini cukup mengejutkan juga . Hey, mungkin kemampuan bahasa Belandaku juga nggak jelek-jelek amat? hahaha

Acara TV Baru

Ngomong-ngomong, aku sangat suka minggu ini soalnya banyak acara TV favoritku mulai tayang lagi minggu ini!! Ada musim terbaru dari How I Met Your Mother, the Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race 19, dll! Yeah!!

Kortingskaart (Kartu Diskon) Baru

Dua atau tiga minggu yang lalu gitu aku mendapatkan newsletter dari NS tentang beberapa tawaran buat mahasiswa. Nah, biasanya sih yang kayak gini tuh aku biarkan saja soalnya biasanya penawarannya nggak cocok sih buatku. Nah, kali ini, aku nggak hanya membacanya sekilas saja soalnya aku melihat kata “gratis” yang diasosiasikan dengan kortingskaart yang aku punya yang akan habis masa berlakunya sebentar lagi. Btw, ya, “gratis” itu bahasa Belandanya gratis. Dan ya, “gratis” itu kata dalam bahasa Belanda loh, nggak cuman bahasa Indonesia aja Dan malah ya, berdasarkan observasiku, sebenarnya kata “gratis” ini adalah kata yang cukup umum loh di sebagian besar Eropa, yang artinya, ya, gratis. Jadi, kalau kalian pada jalan-jalan di Eropa, jangan pernah lupa sama arti kata “gratis” ya, huahahaha .

Ngomong-ngomong, kembali ke topik, aku membeli kortingskaart-ku kan sekitar awal Oktober tahun lalu ya, makanya masa berlakunya udah hampir habis (ya, sebenarnya kartunya sih masih valid sampai 2015 koq; hanya saja, yang bakal habis masa berlakunya itu adalah hak untuk mendapatkan diskon 40% untuk perjalanan dengan kereta api yang didapat karena memiliki kartu itu). Dan lalu datanglah penawaran ini: mahasiswa bisa “membeli” hak diskon 40% ini dengan GRATIS! Yeaaahh!! Berita ini benar-benar datang di waktu yang tepat nih!! *nari-nari kegirangan gak jelas*. Karena aku masih mahasiswa, aku qualified dong buat penawaran ini! Makanya aku trus mendaftar aja buat perpanjangan kortingskaart-ku ini lewat website-nya. Dan lalu, awal minggu ini aku dapat surat dari NS yang mana perpanjangan kartuku telah di-approve; dan kemarin aku telah mengaktivasi kartuku! Yeah! Senang nih saya! Aku telah ngirit 55 euro!! (p.s : harga kortingskaart kan (biasanya) 55 euro per tahun tuh).

Acara Jalan-Jalan Baru

Yah, nanti sore aku akan jalan-jalan lagi nih ke salah satu kota yang paling terkenal di dunia loh. Kota ini adalah ibukotanya negara Perancis. Ya, kota ini adalah, tidak lain dan tidak bukan: PARIS!!! Keretaku akan berangkat jam 4 sore nanti, dan aku akan kembali ke Belanda hari Rabu besok naik kereta jam 10.25 pagi. Koq jadwalnya nggak enak banget sih (berangkat sore, pulang pagi)? Ya soalnya tiket kereta yang murah yang jadwal ini sih. Kalo yang jadwal enak lebih mahal sampai 30an euro tuh. Sayang duitnya lah ya, hahaha . Nah, jadi, sampai ketemu!